Build a Network | Get Free Business Cards

A highlight is student and alumni networking day on Thursday, Feb. 2, with alumni career panels in the afternoon followed by an Alumni & Student Networking Reception, where Arts & Sciences students and alumni come together for a networking lab with how-to instruction for one-to-one student and alumni networking.

College of Arts & Sciences students can change their lives by building a Bobcat network at the reception, which is Thursday, Feb. 2, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. (come for whatever fits your schedule) in Baker Center Ballroom B.

Students who RSVP will receive free business cards when they attend the event. Networking guru Alan J. McMillan of LearnEarnRetire—who specializes in networking for 20 somethings—will provide “networking 101” prompts for students.

Get free business cards (students, when they RSVP).

About the Speakers

Jake Robertson

Jake Robertson ’13, Actuarial Science

Robertson is a 2013 graduate of Ohio University with a B.S. in Actuarial Science. During his time at OHIO, Robertson was an active member of Gamma Iota Sigma, where he served as secretary. He actively was involved in tutoring for the Mathematics Department and passed the first three actuarial exams prior to graduation. Connect with him on LinkedIn.

Upon graduation, Robertson interned with Nationwide Insurance in Columbus and subsequently spent the first two years of his career with Nationwide’s Non-Standard Auto Pricing division. In May 2015, he accepted a position with Erie Insurance’s Personal Pricing Department in Erie, PA. Currently, he is working as an Associate Actuary in Erie’s Modeling and Data Analytics Department.

Robertson currently holds the ACAS designation from the Casualty Society of Actuaries, where he also serves as the CAS University Liaison to Ohio University. He is studying for his last actuarial exam to achieve the Fellowship designation from the CAS.

Steve Ellis, right

Steve Ellis

He is an organizational change management expert. He led customer service at Sprint, Florida Power & Light, Comcast and Luxottica and is recognized as a leader in customer service and customer experience fields. He was named to the BenchmarkPortal “Top 20” US Call Center of the Year for five years in a row.

Ellis was recognized as one of the top three Contact Center Leaders of the year by the International Quality & Productivity Center.

Nate Chapman

Passionate about the sciences and their application to industry, he joined Diagnostic Hybrids as a staff scientist in Research and Development shortly after graduating. In 2009, Diagnostic Hybrids was acquired by Quidel Corp., a leading diagnostic healthcare manufacturer based in California. The acquisition led to dynamic expansion in the Athens facility, and in 2012, after eight years and numerous successful product transfers from R&D, Chapman made the transition to manufacturing.

As the Senior Manager of Molecular Manufacturing, Chapman oversaw an extensive laboratory build out and transferred a highly technical manufacturing competency from California to Athens. Since taking on the role, he has led the Molecular division to doubled yearly production growth and similar development and expansion are expected as the business continues to succeed.

Beth A. Underwood

Underwood graduated from Ohio University in 2012 with a B.S. in Forensic Chemistry and a Sociology minor. She worked for the Newark Police Department as a forensic scientist from 2013 to 2015. In 2015, she began working as a forensic scientist in the chemistry section at the Bureau of Criminal Investigation in London, Ohio.

Michaela Hahn Burriss ’09

Burriss is the Ohio Outreach Manager for Small Business Majority, a national nonprofit small business organization.Small Business Majority was founded and is run by small business owners to focus on solving the biggest problems facing small businesses today and to ensure that America’s entrepreneurs are a key part of an inclusive, equitable, diverse economy.

An attorney and graduate of Capital University Law School, where she received the “Students Giving Back to Students” class gift, she worked in a legal capacity for both the Ohio Senate Minority Caucus’ Legal Counsel and the Columbus City Attorney’s Office. Prior to SBM, she was a congressional staffer with the U.S. Senate and Voter Protection Intern with the 2012 Obama Campaign.

She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Forge Columbus and LeadershipUA, the Alumni Board for Capital University Law School, and the Ohio University Student Senate Alumni Society Board. Driven by her passion for civic engagement, she serves as an at-large member of the Columbus Lawyers’ Chapter of the American Constitution Society, President of the Franklin County Young Democrats, and Parliamentarian of the Ohio Young Democrats. Burriss was selected to the 2014 Fellows Class of the Ohio State Bar Foundation (an honor in the legal profession) and the 2014 Class of the Columbus Bar Association’s Barrister Leadership Program.

Burriss is a first-generation college graduate receiving a B.A. in Political Science Pre-Law. During her time at Ohio University, she excelled in both academics and athletics, regularly appearing on the Dean’s List and being named twice to the All-Mid American Conference Academic Team. She was a full-athletic scholarship recipient, four-time All-Mid American Conference Team selection, three-time MAC Champion, and former school recorder holder as a member of the Varsity Swimming and Diving program. She was a two-time Dean of Students Citation recipient and a former Ohio University Face of Pride.

Burriss also participated on campus in the following capacities: Student Athlete Advisory Committee (two-time president), Council of Student Leaders, Athens Beautification Day (director), University Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics, General Fee Advisory Council, Student Trustee Selection Committee, Center for Student Legal Services (Board of Directors), and Student Senate (off-campus life commissioner).

An Ohio resident the entirety or her life, she is originally from Painesville, Ohio, and is a first-generation U.S. citizen on her mother’s side. She currently resides in Upper Arlington with her husband, Patrick, and Boston Terrier Bowser.

Gordon Murphy, M.D.

Gordon Murphy, M.D.

Murphy earned a bachelor’s degree in zoology in 1961, followed by a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Cincinnati in 1965. He did an internship at the University of Iowa Hospitals, then served as a Captain and general medical officer in the U.S. Air Force from 1966-68, stationed at Glasgow Air Force Base, MT.

Following her service, he returned to Ohio for a residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology, Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton. He became certified in Forensic Pathology by American Board of Pathology and served as a forensic pathologist for the Maryland Office of Chief Medical Examiner before returning to Ohio once again in 1969. He spent 21 years as a pathologist and ultimately Chief Pathologist at the Office of the Coroner, Montgomery County, in Dayton. He also served as a consulting pathologist in clinical toxicology at the Miami Valley Hospital. He continues to serve as an Associate Clinical Professor of Pathology at Wright State University School of Medicine.

Over the course of his career, he authored 37 peer-reviewed papers published in the professional literature of forensic medicine and pathology, including individual case reports; summaries of groups of cases; and studies in the history of forensic medicine and pathology. He presented numerous papers and poster at yearly meetings of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. And he gave depositions and have testified in various courts in numerous forensic cases.